Count Your Blessings

"Count your blessings.
Name them one by one.
Count your many blessings
See what God has done."

That's a little refrain I like to sing when I need to improve my attitude.

Today I did a counting blessings activity with fifth graders using the 40 Developmental Assets from the Search Institute.
I gave each student a copy of the assets and had them check the ones they have. Then, they each chose one they would like to have and wrote that on the back. They ended up writing simple yet powerful statements. Here's a few:

"I would like to have three hours of lessons of art each week."
"I would want to serve more in my community."
"I want to tell the truth even when it's not easy."
"I would like to have the ability to talk to my mom about things that happen in my life. I just get too scared to."

I will follow up with an art activity. Each student will illustrate one of their assets.
Asset # 39 is, "I believe my life has a purpose." I would love to see a student's illustration of that.
I hope to include their drawings in a future post.

For a list of the assets and ideas for how to use them go to www.search-institute.org.